Recalling heroic efforts of ‘Capsule Gill’ to rescue trapped coal miners in Raniganj
Thirty-five years back, it was on this day that Amritsar-based engineer Jaswant Singh Gill scripted history by risking his life to miraculously save 65 coal miners trapped in Mahabir Colliery at Burdwan in Raniganj, West Bengal from a depth of 330 feet.
Though Gill is no more, yet his extraordinary feat with his professional skills could not be ignored. A chowk on the Majitha Road is named after him.
Gill’s son Dr Sarpreet Singh Gill narrated that on November 13, 1989, around 232 miners were employed in the night shift to excavate coal through explosions under the 330-foot deep mine. At around 4 am, there was a sudden influx of water, and the mine got flooded.
The 161 miners could be rescued immediately as they were near the lift, but 71 of them who were far off couldn’t reach the lift due to the water. Fortunately, there was a telephone connection between the borehole and the surface, through which a message was sent that 65 miners had taken shelter on a high part of the pit and another lot of six was missing.
The local authorities swung into action. Four teams were constituted to rescue them. Three of the teams failed to tackle the rising water level as the submersible pumps proved to be inadequate. The oxygen level too was depleting, leading to the risk of the mine collapsing. Gill, a part of the fourth team, innovated the idea of making a ‘steel capsule’ to pass under the mine through a fresh borehole adjacent to the accident site.
The steel capsule was constructed in 72 hours and after a few trial runs up and down the borehole, the rescue of men began on November 16 at 2.30 am.
“My father, out of his theoretical idea, fabricated the steel capsule, 7 feet high and 22 inches in diameter, within 72 hours. A trial run was made by inserting the capsule into the new borewell. Despite initial opposition from top officials of Coal India Limited, my father entered the capsule that was lowered down into the mine and all the 65 trapped men were pulled out one by one at around 8.30 am then. A heavy crane was also pressed into service for lowering the capsule and pulling it up. This helped reduce the trip of the capsule from 15 minutes initially to just 3 minutes. It took around six-seven hours to pull out the trapped miners. My father said that over 25,000 people were there waiting for the outcome and when he was successful in his mission, he was lifted on their shoulders with joy,” he said.
Had he not shown dauntless courage and prowess, all the 71 miners would have died. It was for the first time in the history of mine explosions that a hole was bored and the miners were rescued.
To celebrate Gill’s act of bravery, Coal India Ltd announced November 16 as ‘Rescue Day’. The World Book of Records UK has given it the status of world record and the Limca Book of Records has certified this operation as a national record in the history of coal mining.
Born in Amritsar, Gill did his schooling from Khalsa College School and (B.Sc non-medical) from Khalsa College in 1959. He studied B.Sc (Honours) from the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, before joining Coal India Limited in 1973.
After an illustrious career spanning over 33 years, he retired as Executive Director (Safety and rescue) from the BCCL (Bharat Coking Coal Limited), Dhanbad, a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd in 1998. After retirement, he returned to his hometown Amritsar and led a meaningful and active life till his sudden demise on November 26, 2019.
Among many awards, he was the recipient of the bravery award ‘Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak’ by President of India R Venkataraman in November 1991.
The management of Indian Institute of Technology/Indian School of Mining (IIT-ISM), a premier institute in Dhanbad (Jharkhand), has announced a national award in his name. Christened as “Jaswant Singh Gill Memorial Industrial Safety Excellence Award,” it carries an award sum of Rs 50,000.
Mission Raniganj, a biopic starring Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, was based on Gill’s life and heroic deed.
